EMCC drops home baseball doubleheader to Northwest; Lions to host Co-Lin Sunday

SCOOBA – The 18^th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College dropped their second straight conference baseball doubleheader by falling to visiting Northwest Mississippi Community College, 22-1 and 6-4, in MACJC action Wednesday evening at Gerald Poole Field.

The EMCC Lions bounced back from their run-rule setback in the opening game to force an extra-inning contest in the nightcap.  The Rangers pushed across a pair of runs against Lion closer Eli Leathers in the ninth inning of the second game to complete the sweep.

The scheduled seven-inning nightcap featured a couple of early lead changes with EMCC's Whitt Davis and Northwest's Kyle Moore on the mound.  The Rangers' unearned run in the opening frame was countered by the Lions' two tallies in the bottom half on RBI singles from Mike Farnell and Luke Miller.

The visitors reclaimed the advantage with two runs in the third and then increased their lead to 4-2 with another score the next inning on a run-scoring single by Brooks Boolos that followed Justin Milam's leadoff double.  But, the Lions answered right back in their next at-bat to even the score.  Marcus Ragan's leadoff single was followed by consecutive walks to Davis and Farnell to load the bases with no outs.  Subsequent ground ball outs induced by Northwest reliever Nathan Harrison enabled Corley Reynolds and Alex Knight to each drive in runs.

The next four frames were scoreless, as Harrison and Drew Hurst of Northwest along with EMCC's Bubba Stockstill all proved effective in keeping the teams off the scoreboard.  Stockstill came in to leave a runner stranded at third in the fifth, while the Lions failed to capitalize with runners at third in both the fifth and eighth innings.

In the ninth, Stockstill allowed a leadoff single to Dakota Dailey before giving the ball to Leathers.  After striking out Boolos, Leathers loaded the bases by hitting David Herrington with a pitch and giving up a single to Jack McClure.  The Kosciusko native followed by hitting Aaron Campbell and walking Bailey Nix to force in two runs.

Hurst, the eventual winner who gave up just one hit and struck out three while working the seventh and eighth innings, set up closer J.G. Lipscomb, who picked up his fifth save of the year.

EMCC outhit Northwest, 11-9, in the second game, as three Lion pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts, including eight by Davis in 4.1 innings of work.  Farnell led the way at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort, while Ragan, Miller and Anthony Hickman all added two hits apiece for the Lions.

In the scheduled nine-inning opening game, the Rangers scored multiple runs in six consecutive innings off three different EMCC pitchers to prevail in run-rule fashion.  Northwest outhit the Lions, 18-10, while the visitors also took advantage of seven East Mississippi errors.

Offensively for EMCC in the opener, Davis led the way with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate before heading to the mound for the nightcap.  Reynolds and fellow sophomore Austin Lowther added two hits each for the Lions.

The Northwest Rangers were powered at the top of the lineup with their first three batters combining for 11-for-18 hitting with 12 RBIs.  Herrington went 5-for-6 with eight RBIs and four runs scored from the leadoff spot.  Freshman left-hander Harrison Sandridge scattered 10 hits, while striking out 10 and not issuing a walk, to improve to 3-0 on the year with the complete-game victory.    

Coach Chris Rose's 9-7 EMCC Lions will look to get into the win column in MACJC play against Copiah-Lincoln Community College during a Sunday afternoon doubleheader that has been pushed back one day due to Saturday's forecasted rain.  First pitch Sunday is set for 2 p.m. on the Scooba campus.